We visited the most famous and considered the world’s largest existing imperial garden, Mountain Resort (which also known as Bishu Shanzhuang). It was built in the 17th century and took 89 years to complete. It is a vast complex of palaces, administrative and ceremonial buildings. Temples of various architectural styles and imperial gardens blend perfectly well into a landscape of lakes, pastureland and forests.
I was totally amazed by how beautifully the buildings are kept and preserved. The emperor’s office building was made of wood and till date, it is still looking new and clean. Then, as we walked, I was taken away by the extremely beautiful lakes though they were already frozen due to the time of the year. The temperature was -11 degree while we were there… Yes, I was indeed frozen! I was really happy to be able to stand on the ‘used to be lake’ which was not frozen… that was really fun!
The place was too big for walking and we took the ‘bus-ride’ instead. We saw many wild deer around the garden as there was a forest which is not too far away. The guide told us that about 20 km away, the emperor used to go for his weekly hunting adventure…
We noticed that there was this lake wasn’t frozen despite the low temperature. The lake is known as the ‘Rehe’ (Hot Spring). This was the place where the emperor found and decided to build his garden as he thought it was a great place to build his palace. I was really shock when I saw the water which was not frozen and there were fishes in there too… truly amazing…
After visiting the Mountain Resort, we went to see the world’s biggest Buddha. Mmh… it was in the temple and we had to climb the flights of stairs before reaching to the top. Though I am a catholic, I truly respect other religion. I was amazed how big the Buddha status were…
Anyway, I found Chengde really a nice place to visit at least once. *smiles*
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